The present invention relates to absorbent articles that include an outercover and other structures. More specifically, the invention relates to an absorbent article such as training pants that incorporate a laminated material in its outercover or other structure, where the laminated material exhibits a low Poisson's Ratio.
Absorbent articles, such as children's training pants, have been designed with an outercover or other structure employing a material in which a nonwoven is laminated to a printed film. Unfortunately, in certain circumstances, such outercovers or other structures may not be completely satisfactory. For example, the printing on the outercover or other structure may appear dull or faded because the printed film is overlaid with a nonwoven layer. Moreover, attempts to print the outercover or other structure subsequent to lamination compromise the ability to register the graphics on such laminated materials because the laminated materials do not stretch as easily as a single layer of film. This leads to the application of much higher tension force levels to register the graphics, resulting in such materials necking down in the cross-machine or transverse direction to widths that are too narrow for acceptable processing. Narrow web widths can result in exposed adhesive beads intended to connect the laminated material with the rest of the article. This exposed adhesive bead usually yields a non-functional and/or non-acceptable absorbent article.
Thus, there is a need for an absorbent article with a laminated material exhibiting a low Poisson's Ratio to limit the necking in the laminated material.